Shortly after completing a project about female identity and beauty there was a pipe leak in my photography cupboard resulting in violent mutilations of my negatives. Years later, as technology continued to advance, I scanned these destroyed negatives with the hopes of salvaging them in Photoshop. However the harsh scarring of these beautiful women was somehow more powerful and gripping than my restoration of the originals.

What I began to see was a visual exposé of the beautification process that is so rife and detrimental in our society. In the original project I had intended to portray the tension facing young women as they attempt to simultaneously conform and stand out in a culture obsessed with external beauty. Somehow chance intervened in a way that made my intentions more visually present and compelling.